Family Fun

“Maryland has everything – mountains and wetlands, the Chesapeake Bay, the beach, and flat grassy fields with wild horses running. I also like the cities. … I can go to a museum or the zoo or catch a cool breeze at the Inner Harbor.” Joyce Scott, internationally known Baltimore artist

Entertainment for everyone. That’s how Maryland endears itself to families of all sizes and visitors of every age – a seemingly endless assortment of incredible places to see, awesome things to do, and happy memories to hold on to.

Wild Rides & Water Slides

Your ticket to the Largo-based Six Flags America theme park also gets you into the adjacent Hurricane Harbor water park, so you can mix rollercoaster screams with river-raft laughter. At Adventure Park USA in New Market, options range from a rollercoaster, rock wall and ropes course to paintball, pinball and a Prospector Playground. Inclement weather can’t dampen the fun at Western Maryland’s Aqua Mountain Resort, the state’s “first and only indoor water park, resort and hotel.”

The Great Outdoors

Our pleasant climate gives you plenty of chances to appreciate outdoor activities on our Family Friendly Trails. Spend the day swimming, boating or parasailing in Ocean City – the East Coast’s No. 1 family resort – and then camp amid free-roaming ponies on Assateague Island. During winter, Western Maryland slopes beckon skiers and snowtubers. Other exciting things to do include whitewater rafting on a manmade course in McHenry, biking around a state park, touring caverns in Boonsboro, and sifting for fossils on a Southern Maryland beach.

Fairy Tales & Animal Friends

Many Maryland farms have seasonal corn mazes, hayrides and petting barns, but none are quite like Clark’s Elioak Farm near Ellicott City. Here, you can relive your favorite fairy tales amid Cinderella’s life-sized pumpkin coach and the Three Little Pigs’ huts. Your storybook visit to Maryland should also include a zoo or two. The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore has an award-winning kids’ section, while a free-admission facility in Salisbury is listed among America’s finest small zoos.

Hands-On Attractions

Roll up your sleeves to shuck an oyster or learn the printing trade at the Baltimore Museum of Industry’s acclaimed activity center. Along the Chesapeake Bay, environmental research facilities let you get in touch with fishing and crabbing techniques first-hand. Interested in making new discoveries? Explore Pocomoke River history at the new Delmarva Discovery Center, investigate everything from aviation to the human body at the Hagerstown-based Discovery Station, and get back to nature inside the Discovery Center at Deep Creek Lake.

We’ve already told you about a lot of the fun to be found woven among Baltimore’s historic sites, shops and theaters, but “Charm City” has even more to offer families. Port Discovery, the Children’s Museum in Baltimore, is one of the top five kid’s museums in the nation according to Child Magazine, and nearby is the new Geppi’s Entertainment Museum, dedicated to toys, comic books and American pop culture. Another option is sightseeing on land and sea from the deck of an amphibious “Duck.”